It’s hump day! And riddle day!

I thought I’d try a different kind of riddle this morning.

Below is a rebus puzzle – it conveys a phrase which is a common idiom or expression. For this one, you need to look at the word placement and number quantity to solve the puzzle.

Here it is:

The answer is in the tidbit. And please let me know what you think of this new riddle style!

Quote of the day
“We have conveyed… to China our dismay, our despair, our frustration, but to put it really simply, our outrage at this verdict.”
PM Anthony Albanese on the suspended death sentence handed down to Dr Yang Hengjun, an Australian citizen detained in China. Under the sentence, Chinese courts will wait two years before deciding whether to execute Yang or sentence him to life in prison.

Stat of the day
10%
The percentage of Snapchat employees facing redundancy. The social media giant said it’s making the cuts to “promote in-person collaboration”.

Today in history
2009
The Black Saturday bushfires in Victoria killed 173 people and burned through 450,000 hectares of land. Over 400 people were injured, many lost their homes, and over a million animals died.

Some headlines from this morning:

• The eSafety Commissioner has recommended that parents play video games with their children, in an effort to limit young peoples’ exposure to online bullying and harassment. It comes after research found young people were more likely to talk to their parents about online abuse if they had also talked to them about gaming. eSafety Commissioner Julie Grant is calling on parents to show interest and curiosity in their children’s online gaming habits.

• A group of teenage boys have been charged in relation to the stabbing death of a 70 year old QLD woman. A 16-year-old boy has been charged with murder while two other 16-year-old boys and one 15-year-old have been charged with “unlawful use of a motor vehicle”.

Legislation to ban children under 16 from using social media has passed a key milestone in the U.S. state of Florida.

The ‘Social Media Use for Minors’ bill passed the House of Representatives (lower house) with support from both major parties. It’s now progressed to the Republican-controlled Senate.

The legislation will also need the approval of Republican Governor Ron DeSantis, who has expressed some concerns about the proposal.

Background
The legislation was introduced by both Democrat and Republican lawmakers.

It aims to protect children from harmful content that could compromise their development or cause mental ill-health.

It follows concerns about the “addictive“ design features of some apps. One House member referred to social media as “digital fentanyl”.

Social media ban
Under the draft law, children under 16 would be banned from using social media platforms.

Platforms would be required to verify the age of all users, ban any underage users from creating new accounts, and delete the accounts of anyone it “reasonably” believes is under 16.

The draft includes penalties for social media platforms that fail to comply with rules to protect children.

Interactive gaming or professional networking sites, such as LinkedIn, wouldn’t be included in the ban.

DeSantis’ Response
The legislation will need approval from the Florida Senate before being reviewed by Governor DeSantis, who has the power to veto the bill.

While yet to formally offer a position on the draft law, DeSantis has voiced concerns about a blanket social media ban on children under 16. He said it could create “legal issues”, especially if a minor has approval from a parent or guardian to use social media.

If passed in its current form, the draft law will come into effect in July.

The Reserve Bank of Australia (RBA) has announced it will keep interest rates on hold at 4.35%.

After its first meeting of the year, the RBA Board said there are “encouraging signs” inflation is slowing, but that the overall economic outlook was still uncertain.

For the first time, RBA Governor Michele Bullock fronted a press conference yesterday about the Board’s decision.

It’s one of several changes to the RBA’s operations, as recommended in a recent independent review.

Reserve Bank
The RBA is Australia's central bank. Its key responsibility is setting the 'cash rate' — an interest rate it charges commercial banks for short-term loans.

This rate influences the cost of borrowing across the economy, so changes to the cash rate are often called changes to 'interest rates'.

The RBA has regularly raised interest rates over the last two years to fight rising prices (inflation). The current cash rate is 4.35%. It was 0.10% at the start of 2022.

RBA review
A formal review of the RBA was announced by Treasurer Jim Chalmers in July 2022.

The review found the RBA Board needed more specialist expertise, and that many members weren’t equipped to challenge the views of the Governor. Concerns were also raised about the RBA’s hierarchical culture and a lack of public transparency.

It offered 51 recommendations to the Board. Then-Governor Philip Lowe announced the RBA’s response in July. Lowe was replaced by Bullock – his former deputy – in September.

What’s changed?
The RBA Board will meet eight times each year to discuss the cash rate, rather than the previous 11.

The meetings will be longer, starting on Monday afternoon and ending on Tuesday morning.

Less frequent and longer meetings are intended to give Board members more time to consider proposed decisions and allow for greater consultation with staff.

Board decision
As was the case after previous RBA meetings, each cash rate decision will be shared in a statement released on Tuesday afternoon.

However, the statement will no longer be attributed to the Governor, but the Board as a whole.

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They know how hard it can be to nail online marketing, so they're giving TDA readers a free ecommerce marketing calendar to help you chart a course for smarter, more impactful customer connections this year! To learn more, click here.

TDA is running a survey on the Government’s changes to the ‘Stage 3’ tax cuts coming in July. (If you’re not sure what they are, you can read our article on them here.)

You can let us know what you think about the changes here. It will only take a minute! We’ll let you know the results in a few days.

This week, Australia’s first psychedelic-assisted therapy clinic opened in Melbourne. The clinic will use MDMA and psilocybin to treat patients with PTSD and treatment-resistant depression. But what does psychedelic-assisted therapy actually involve, and how easily will the average Australian be able to access treatment? Today on the podcast we speak to one of the clinic’s co-founders to understand more about this relatively new therapy.

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A gene therapy drug trial that could allow deaf infants to hear has been given the go-ahead in France.

Infants aged between six and 31 months - that’s nearly 3-years-old - who have a particular type of deafness will have a drug injected into their ears that could change how their inner ear functions. Researchers called the trial “a major step forward”.

People have been spotted driving while wearing the Apple Vision Pro goggles. (Yes. Someone thought to put on a VR headset before heading out in their car.)

A video of this went viral and caught the attention of U.S. Secretary Pete Buttigieg who reposted it on X saying: “Reminder—ALL advanced driver assistance systems available today require the human driver to be in control and fully engaged in the driving task at all times.”

While the person in this video managed to drive their Tesla with the Vision Pro, Apple’s user guide reads: “Never use Apple Vision Pro while operating a moving vehicle, bicycle, heavy machinery, or in any other situations requiring attention to safety.”

The Vision Pro came out in the U.S. on 2 February, and it costs well over $6,000. No wonder some people don’t want to take them off.

Riddle answer: For once in my life. (Get it? Four…ones… in… ‘my life’.)